and led all the States in 1860, but has now declined 

 until one city district consumes more than the total 



lumber cut of the Slate. 



While-pi IK- operations in the Lake States began 

 with a single sawmill in 1832; eastern shipments were 

 being made three or four years later; and the culmin- 

 ation was reached in 1892 with a cut of nearly 9 

 billion feet. Dreary wastes, dismantled sawmills, 

 deserted towns, and an insignificant pine output of 

 a single billion feet in 1918 are depressing reminders 

 of the day when Lake States lumber supplied the 

 markets of the country from the Rockies to the At- 

 lantic Ocean and from the Canadian boundary liter- 

 ally to the Gulf. 



The great development of the southern industry 

 began in the seventies and increased rapidly to what 

 was probably the maximum, about 16 billion feet, 

 in 1909. In its turn, southern pine dominated the 

 markets little if any less completely than white pine ; 

 but the South is following the course of other re- 

 gions, and the remaining supplies of virgin pine arc 

 only about one-fifth of the original stand. Within 

 a single decade southern pine production promises 

 to exceed by little, if any, the needs of the South. 



A great start has been made in the last chapter of 

 the history of virgin softwood stands. Since 189-i 

 Pacific coast and Rocky Mountain timber has been 

 forcing its way increasingly into the middle western 

 and eastern markets. Within the year it has domin- 

 ated those of the Lake States and has even en- 

 tered in appreciable quantities those of the South 

 itself. To the West only, of all our heritage of 



31 



